Relaunch of the business is now underway with a team of around 150 employees who are focusing on bringing the 16-tonne and 18-tonne battery electric truck models back to the European market.

Administrators from professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal sold the UK business and assets to a new entity, ‘Volta Commercial Vehicles Ltd’, supported by a hedge fund of Luxor Capital Group.

A Reuters report yesterday announced that the Swedish-based electric vehicle startup has decided to file for bankruptcy in its home country.

A ‘Volta Zero’ truck is operating from DSV’s southern hub in the town of Purfleet-on-Thames, carrying out last-mile deliveries in London and the southeast of England.

Testing adduced a volumetric score of 32.82 cubic metres, the highest ever achieved by a vehicle assessed for the Direct Vision Standard (the second-best score being 22 cubic metres).

The low cabin of the ‘Volta Zero’ will be supported by an independent front suspension from ZF which can support a vehicle width of up to 2,600mm and an axle load of 8,200 kg.

Nexyad’s main product, ‘SafetyNex’, monitors the driver in real-time and provides guidance and prompts which are intended to encourage “prudent” driving.

The decision to bring the launch forward was motivated by increased demand and rapidly growing interest among Scandinavian operators, according to Volta Trucks.

Later this year, operators in the U.S. will have the opportunity to test and evaluate a pilot fleet of trucks in their own business operations.

The company said that the first customer orders will be fulfilled from Q3 2023 onwards. 

The Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr (“Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport”, or BMDV) has committed a total of EUR24.6m in subsidies to Volta Trucks’ German customers.

The Volta Truck-as-a-Service Hubs in Duisburg, Germany and Madrid, Spain join two other hubs already opened in France and the UK.